New Zealand, North Island: Trekking, Beaches and Sunsets

Rotorua, Whangamata and Coromandel Peninsula

After the Alpine Crossing Hike we slept like babies.  The next morning we packed our bags and covered some serious ground. We drove north, stopping at several interesting spots along the way. We went to Rotorua first, which is well known for its geothermal activity. The attractions consist mainly of geysers, steam vents, and boiling mud. I love this type of thing, but we felt Rotorua was a little touristy for our taste. There wasn’t a National Park you could drive into to view it all, just privately owned attractions you could pay to go in and see. Having spent time in Yellowstone before and extensive time in Iceland recently, we didn’t feel it’d be worth our while to go into all of these and blow our budget in a few hours. What we did instead was head to a really cool old bathhouse, the Blue Baths. It was incredibly relaxing and wonderful! The bathhouse dates back to 1933. It has two large hot tubs and one big outdoor pool, all heated geothermally. It reminded us of our time in Iceland and was a great way to unwind for a couple hours.

 After the blue baths we continued north stopping at a few points along the way until we reached our destination for the night. It was a small beach town on the east coast called Whangamata. The drive into town was breathtaking. The route was extremely hilly and winding, with narrow curves turning into each small beach town. We loved the ride but were happy to have made it to our AirBnb we were staying for the night. The Airbnb was a perfect refuge for the night, where we could cook dinner and chat with some local Kiwis. They too were travelers, and we learned a lot about the island from them.

Cathedral Cove

The next morning we headed to a beach area just north of Whangamata and hiked to the famous Cathedral Cove beach. It was beautiful, and reminded us a lot of Australia. The walk is a 5km trail that takes you to a few small coves you can only get to by foot or by boat. We hung out at the Cove for a bit, but the water was pretty cold for swimming.

Overnight Trek: The Pinnacles, Kaueranga Valley

New Zealand is filled with incredible hiking, which is one of the reasons we loved it so much. After the incredible but crowded Tongariro trail, we decided to do a more remote hike in the Coromandel Peninsula that had very different scenery.

The Pinnacles is a 12-13km hike in the Kaueranga Valley that was constructed in the 1900’s for packhorses transporting natural resources through the forest. Today what it’s well known for is its sunrise views. Because of this, a hut was constructed below the summit hike of the Pinnacles, where you could stay overnight then do the last part of the trail in the morning as the sun is peeking over the horizon. We were excited to do another overnight trek, but had one little hiccup before heading up. We couldn’t find rental sleeping bags in any of the small towns nearby the park. It looked like such a beautiful hike, and it was supposed to be a fairly decent temperature anyways, so Josh and I decided to just do it anyway. We could just wear everything we own and we’ll be warm enough in the hut, right?

We were blessed with an incredibly beautiful day when he headed up the trail. It was warm and sunny, and we even got down to our t-shirts. The trail was a thigh burning, uphill climb the entire way. We moved pretty quickly so we could get to the hut before sunset, and were pleasantly surprised when we got to the hut with how spacious and nice it was. It was better than the other huts we stayed at on the Kepler Track. When we arrived we were greeted by the Ranger. He informed us that our nice weather was short lived, and that tonight into tomorrow morning we’d see a lot of rain and clouds. He told us we probably wouldn’t get a sunrise but we still had time to head up and catch a beautiful sunset instead.

 So we dropped off our bags, grabbed our pasta salad and headed to the summit. It was really steep, and took about 45min to get up. We were amazed at how well the trail was made. Steps, ladders, and rails helped us scramble to the top. The viewpoint at the top was out of this world. You could see the entire Coromandel Peninsula, including the ocean and towns nearby. It was beautiful. We hung around for about an hour and had our picnic dinner and watched the sun go down, then hurried down the ladders and stairs before we could no longer see.

That night definitely proved to be colder than we would’ve liked. Josh and I knew we’d made a mistake not having sleeping bags, but we really didn’t have a choice. We put on our tights, rainpants, wool socks, hats, gloves, Under Armour, etc. And were toasty warm when we went to bed…but didn’t sleep for long without waking up cold. The huts have wood burning stoves for heat but none are in the dorms. It got pretty blustery outside, and it carried into the hut. We made it through the night all cuddled up in our layers, but were so happy when it hit 6am and we could make the trek back down and warm up.

The Pinnacles hike was nature in its purest form. It was challenging, peaceful and breathtaking. Definitely one of my favorites on the trip, despite the sleeping bag incident (or lack thereof). If given the chance, I’d do it all over again.